Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-03-31
PRooREss IN JAPAN.
Z Sooocasful Experiment. Made BY the III
kAdO's Liberal Government.

The changes that had been sweeping
over the island empire of Japan ut last
reached the imperial horse pasture OF
ShimOss- Feudalism was being de-
stroyed, and the imperial pasture of
millions of acres and 5000 miles of EN-
bankment fences, built with an expen-
iiture of labor possible only under a
feudal form of government, was des-
tined to- go with the power that had
created it The new spirit of progress
| demanded the rich soils inclosed in the
mighty entertainments for homes for the
newly enfranchised people. BY order
of the Great Council. several divisions
of the pasture were put on the market
and sold TO the landless people. The
terms of these sales show the spirit
which actuates the Government. Lands
within forty miles of the capital and
its one million of population, near tie
navigable bay of Yeddo, with soils rs
rich and fertile as any on the green
earth, and with an abundance of timber
and water, were sold at mere nominal
price on long time without interest on
the purchase money. and the Govern
ment exempted the land and improve
ments from all taxation for five years.
The only conditions imposed upon the
purchasers were residence upon the
land and It's thorough improvements
This was the policy pursued toward in
dividual purchasers. To capitalists
large tracts of land were sold for the
purpose of establishing colonies from
the redundant and overcrowded popu-
lations of the great cities. The terms
upon which the colonists were to hold
the lands from the capitalists were pre-
scribed by the ever-thoughtful Govern
ment. They were such as to guard the
cOlonists against oppression in the way
of rents.
The deposed nobility had been pen
stoned off and then had plentJT OF
money. As class they had always
been consumers, and never producers.
They had been the great burden which
had borne so heavily upon the shoulders
of labor. They constituted One-seventh
of the population, and to maintain that
proportion of their inhabitants in pen
stoned idleness would have been to
prevent that progress of the country
which was the object Of every effort
being made. The idea required to Mr..
Okubo, the head of the Home Depart
ment, to enlist this class and their
capital in the settlement and develop
ment of the wild lands of the country.
They were appealed to. and the advan-
tages to themselves and the people at
large from their powerful cooperation
were represented to them, with n result
that they quickly responded to the
in which the imperial pasture is situ-
ated, organized, purchased n tract OF
several thousand acres of land, and inn
proved it by putting out ten plants and
mulberry trees. Their plan of organ
ization was remarkable one. The
company was to continue in existence
for ten years mt least. and it had 400
members. Each member paid in $500,
which was used in paying for the land,
putting up buildings and buying nipple
Ncnts. In addition TO the cash sub
scriptions. each member agreed to fur
nish laborer for sixty days each year
for the ten yean&; also TO board the
laborer. There was to be no dividend
declared until the end of the ten years,
when the property of the company was
to be disposed of to actual settler ]
visited this place when it had been un-
der cultivation for six years, and the
result Of their labors had been marvel
GUS. The great tea plantations, with
their glossy, satin-leayed plants, were
giving a plentiful return upon the labor
and money invested in them, and sc
were the luxuriant mulberry groves.
All the money realized annually from
tea and silk was reinvested in more
land and its improvement--COr. San
Francisco Chronicle